Author: Erin Lee

Way Back Home

July 25, 2019 / Erin Lee / 0 Comments

“…길고 긴 여행을 끝내 이젠 돌아가…” –

“…the long journey has ended and now I return…”

When I applied to DukeEngage South Korea, I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew that it would be educational. I knew that it would be hard. I knew that it would be fantastic. What I didn’t know was that I would learn more about my Korean heritage than I would have ever expected. My understanding of North-South Korean relations was broadened and expanded during our stay at the Reunification Education Center. I was able to visit Gwangju and Ganghwa for the first time to learn more about my heritage’s rich history and expand my assumptions and existing knowledge about the Korean people (more on that later). What I didn’t know was that life still rolls on around you even while you are teaching the students that you love but who are experiencing some of the most difficult circumstances that anyone could ever imagine. Teaching is not only physically taxing, but mentally and emotionally consuming. Sometimes, I didn’t have the energy to teach or I couldn’t help but break down when I felt overwhelmed. But probably the thing I really didn’t know, and perhaps the most important thing that I learned is how rewarding my experience would be during DukeEngage South Korea.

DukeEngage South Korea’s first meal together as a team in South Korea.

Gwangju and Ganghwa Island

Personally, learning about the Gwangju Uprising and actually going to visit the city itself was a very powerful moment during our two months in DukeEngage South Korea. The Gwangju Uprising, or May 18th as it is referred to in South Korea, occurred in 1980 during the aftermath of the long-running dictatorship of Park Jeong Hee and the ascendance of Chun Doo Hwan. Chun enforced an “emergency” martial law all over the country but college students in Gwangju rebelled. The military response to the demonstrations with South Korean paratroopers were so violent and cruel that the entire city and its citizens raised up in full protest against the South Korean military. For ten days, Gwangju citizens fought, young and old alike, against the military but due to the extreme censoring at the time, most of South Korea and the world had no idea what was going on. Still today, Gwangju citizens feel the ache of lives lost and missing due to the events in May of 1980. However, what is most admirable and powerful about learning about this event is the pride and dedication of Gwangju’s citizens. During our visits to the memorials and museums, I couldn’t help but admire the stories about the taxi and bus drivers who drove out into the chaos to rescue the injured or the passionate quotes from the very students who had led the uprising. It was an honor and a privilege to pay respects to those who had passed at the May 18th National Cemetery.

We all had the honor of paying our respects at the May 18th National Cemetery.

As someone who had grown up in Seoul and had never really travelled to many other areas in South Korea, it was fascinating to actually see for myself the differences between Seoul and Gwangju and their citizens. I was curious about the sociological legacy of the Gwangju uprising was surprised to find out that even today some people hold suspicions about Gwangju citizens. Economically, the southeastern side of South Korea is more advanced than its western side. I also noticed this because being in Gwangju reminded me of what Seoul looked like more than ten years ago. The fashion trends of Seoul seemed to not have fully embedded themselves in Gwangju, and even the food tastes different. However, differences do not indicate that one is somehow better than the other. If anything, I was ecstatic to see that even in South Korea, a country that is barely the size of New Jersey, has such cultural diversity and individuality.

Going to Ganghwa Island was an enriching experience because there was a whole other area of foods and historical landmarks I had never seen before. We got to try large-eyed herring, a specialty of the area, and pumpkin rice punch (which is quite different from regular rice punch). I think one of the most iconic things we got to see was the first Anglican Church of Ganghwa Island. The architecture was incredibly unique because it was a mix of traditional Korean and Western styles. We also learned about how Ganghwa Island has almost been the gateway during invasions and battles with countries like Japan, France, and even the United States, because of its access into the Imjin and Han River.

DESK members at a Buddhist temple on Ganghwa Island.

다시 만날 때… (When I see you again…)

I mean, Gwangju and Ganghwa Island were great and all, but I’m definitely stalling on providing my last thoughts about DukeEngage South Korea 2019. (I’m actually very horrible at goodbyes. I tend to just overlook them and convince myself that this goodbye is pointless because, I mean, of course we’ll see each other again right? I’m working on it haha.) I’m probably going to be that DukeEngage-er, “DukeEngage was best summer I’d ever had” or “DukeEngage was a turning point in my life.” But, you know, it was. I guess to put it simply: I loved it. I had an absolute blast. Even with the strange hours and the hardships of teaching, it was the most amazing experience. I don’t really want to go home.

But that’s the thing.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my very long twenty years of life (shhh I know, I know, I’m still very young, it’s called being ironic haha), home is where and what you make it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, DukeEngage South Korea was home. Granted I guess it’s much easier for me to say that compared to the other DESK members because I’ve lived here before, I speak the language, my extended family still lives here, I’m Korean, yada yada. But I think I may understand more than anyone what our students who we’ve taught this summer have to go through sometimes. I know what’s it like to be South Korean, but you’re also…not. I know what it’s like the minute that you trip over a word or make any indication that you’re not “fully” South Korean that people will switch to English with you or make assumptions about you because you’re not “really Korean.”

Don’t get me wrong, my years in South Korea were completely different than the experiences of the students of Jiguchon or Woorideul. I was privileged in many ways: socially, economically, etc. But I know what it feels like to so desperately want somewhere to feel like home but having to fight the assumptions and prescriptions from other people about who you are and where you are from. And I think there wasn’t really anything that I was able to convey or give my students about these kinds of things. If anything, they were the ones who solidified and reinforced my faith in being able to “be both.” One can be both Korean and Chinese. Maybe Vietnamese and Korean. Not North Korean or South Korean, just Korean. Or maybe you are North Korean and that’s not South Korean. Or maybe even Korean and American. You get to define you are, where you are from, and where home is.

The last two months and the time I’ve spent with these students who I have connected to, has made DukeEngage South Korea 2019 home for me. The professors Kims who took such good care of us and whether they tried to or not, we definitely felt like their children. They really taught us and took care of us so well. And my DukeEngage team…

Wow. Um.

I’m going to be a little selfish and spend a hot minute being a little mushy gushy about my team. Even through all the little arguments and my (constant) nagging, I promise I have come to love each and every single one of you from the bottom of my heart. I can’t help it, if I like you, you become mine forever (mwahahaha). But above all, you guys made South Korea more of a home than it has ever been before.

So I guess my point is, it makes sense that I don’t want to go “home” back in Georgia or at Duke, because I’ve made a home for myself during DukeEngage South Korea 2019 thanks to our students, their teachers, our professors, and the entire team.

But if there’s anything to know about “home,” it’s never really good-bye, because you always make your way back.

사랑합니다

감사합니다

“…너라는 집으로 지금 다시 way back home…”

“…back to the home that is you, I’ll be on my way back home again”

Way Back Home by Shaun

(Written on July 23rd, 2019)

안녕하세요 우리들학교~ (Hello Woorideul School~)

July 7, 2019 / Erin Lee / 0 Comments

And thus, our first week at Woorideul School has come to a close.

Woorideul School is an establishment that provides Korean lessons and other subject education for North Korean youth from China and also straight from North Korea. I can’t deny that I was incredibly anxious about teaching at the school. We had little information about the students other than their ethnicities and their very general language profiles. We also had the daunting task of coming up with lesson plans on our own while also trying to decipher a very confusing schedule. Not to mention, the demographics and setting of the school is completely different from our previous school, Jiguchon. The students are much older and have very different experiences than the young children and tweens we taught at Jiguchon. The burning question in my head the night before was: what could I possibly offer these students in nine days?

We arrived on the first day with a lot of anxiety but excitement. The structure of our days are quite complicated but the general format is: first period is Reading Club, or a reading practice class, then depending on the day, one or two other classes with usually a different group of students.

I teach three students in total, all of whom who are in the lower English proficiency levels. My first student for Reading Club is the sweetest woman who I will call K. I was incredibly nervous to meet her because all I knew before entering her class that I would be teaching one adult for an entire class period. However, after we exchanged some very short introductions, I discovered that she was the same age as my sister and we became much more comfortable around one another.

K is absolutely lovely. She is twenty-seven years old and is a very recent arrival from North Korea. She works incredibly hard to learn even though she finds certain things difficult. This week I have been really emphasizing the alphabet and the phonics of English and she has been working with so much dedication that I can’t help but admire her and reflect on my own work ethic and passion. However, the most incredible thing about her is her story. Without going into too many specifics, K has faced many hardships, including separation from her family and traveling from the northern part of North Korea through two countries to arrive in South Korea. Despite everything, she speaks and acts with a gentleness and an air of grace that transcends her circumstances a thousandfold. By telling me her story, I feel like I have received the most precious gift that I could receive from her and I only hope that in the next four days at Woorideul I can reciprocate even ten percent of what she has given me.

My other two students I will call O and Y. They’re a lively pair and despite having only known each other for a week, I am incredibly jealous of how comfortably the joke around and hang out with one another. O and Y are also very similar to my sister’s age, twenty-six and twenty-five respectively, and I found myself to be quite comfortable with them. O also has an incredible story like K although much different in many ways. He arrived in South Korea years ago but had worked in Russia for two years as part of a Christian volunteer organization. He’s spent the last nine years pretty much on his own but when I asked him if it was difficult, he answered no. His attitude towards his life after leaving North Korea was that he did what needed to do, and it seemed to me that he faced things on without hesitation and with a determination. He approaches learning English in the same way. Despite often joking around and loving to make tangential conversation, he never deviates from the task and often makes notes and asks good questions in order to further his English education. Unfortunately, I have gotten to know O a lot better than Y because she was out our first day at Woorideul, but in the last few days, we have been able to bond over our shared love of fantasy and superhero movies and being playfully annoyed at the other male students in the class. Both O and Y are preparing to enter into college, with Y making the rounds for interviews as of yesterday July 5th.

In essence, the students at Woorideul are an incredibly diverse group. I personally haven’t been able to teach every single one of them as about half of the students are arrivals from China and, despite being ethnically or at least partially ethnically Korean, they mainly speak Chinese and have their fair share of stories and experiences I have yet to get to know. Hopefully in this next week I will.

DESK meets the Woorideul students in morning assembly.

One of the DESK teachers, Thomas, teaches one of his classes.

Week 1 안녕? DukeEngage 처음이지? (Hey? It’s your first time at DukeEngage right?)

June 2, 2019 / Erin Lee / 0 Comments

Finally, we have finished our first week in Seoul, South Korea.

All of us can agree that the flights to Incheon were SOOOO exhausting. But by the time we arrived to the apartment, the excitement began to build.

On Monday, we got to meet some of the kids at Jiguchon School. It was so reassuring to see that they were as excited to meet us as we were to meet them. We visited the third grade class and they were absolutely delightful. Afterwards, we got to eat lunch with many of the kids and they had so many great questions like “how tall Daniel was” and sweet compliments about how pretty we were. We also got to meet the middle schoolers. Preparing for our lesson plans, all of us couldn’t be more ecstatic to get started teaching. With our expectations set high and with the fantastic guidance of our program director and site coordinator, we are ready to start teaching next week!

The next day we went to the Ministry of Unification Education. There, we spent three days learning about the current North-South Korean relations and the possibilities about reunification. Everyday we participated in lectures and discussions surrounding the current South Korean administration’s position on reunification. They seem to have a very positive outlook on reunification and see it as the inevitable result of the current North-South Korean situation. Most intriguing was the differing positions that different departments of the government seemed to take on reunification. The institute clearly has a more positive, peace-oriented outlook versus the more conservative, strength-oriented position that the military takes. Even more interesting was that even within the ministry positions were slightly different. We got to have a short discussion with the second-in-command in the institute and his position was slightly more optimistic than that of our mentor, Sungwon Lee. In the end, one of my most important takeaways from the experience was that there is not just one solution to the peace relations on the Korea peninsula.

During our three days with the Ministry of Unification Education, we also got to visit various memorials and museums. For me personally, walking through the exhibits at the Odusan Unification Observatory I couldn’t help but feel strangely emotional looking at the history of North and South Korea. I felt especially moved when we went through the exhibit about the many men and women who were in the nineties, sometimes almost a 100, who could not return to their hometowns in North Korea. A group of older men and women walked by while we were looking at the exhibit, exclaiming at the age of the people represented in the exhibit and the content of the memories that the exhibit shared. The legacy of the Korean War still runs deep within the memories of the Korean people.

We also realized throughout the first week that one of the challenges we would face would be to find the balance between “work” and “play.” More simply put, the question is: How do we spend the time that we have in Korea? We hope by asking ourselves this question, we can have a truly effective and rewarding DukeEngage experience.

-Erin

Word vomit:

It was really interesting to see the different shops that are on the streets near our apartment. Sometimes we saw high-end coffee shops and the right around the corner there was an old more local-looking butcher shop. Times are changing in South Korea.
There are more foreigners in Seoul than we expected.
Seoul is definitely a city. You can tell by the smell. (haha)
Transportation is really good when considering trying to be green. We can really appreciate some mass transport systems!

The DukeEngage team meets the middle schoolers at Jiguchon School.

The DukeEngage Korea team listening to a guide explain one of the exhibits at Odusan

Group photo of the team in front of the bell that both South Koreans and North Koreans ring to bring in the new year.

The DukeEngage team in front of a DMZ sign after going down into the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel.